THE WAKEFIELD/LYNNFIELD boys’ swim team gets first in the freestyle relay as Spencer Little, Henry Brown, Robert Brown and Evan Chan represented Wakefield with a sectional-qualifying time of 1:37.69, one second within the cut for states. (Courtesy Photo)
By MARC GAGNE
PEABODY — The Wakefield/Lynnfield boys’ swim team started their season with a splash on Dec. 22, already qualifying three relays for Sectionals and nearly making the States cut as well.
The Warrior-Pioneers faced Triton and North Reading/Wilmington in a tri-meet at the Peabody YMCA. Despite losing in the end to Triton, there were many exciting moments as Wakefield/Lynnfield bested North Reading/Wilmington.
The meet began with the 200-yard medley relay, which incorporates all four strokes, each performed by a different swimmer. Wakefield/Lynnfield’s relay consisted of Robert Brown, Andre Shieh, Evan Chan and Spencer Little. The relay took second place with a time of 1:51.05, qualified for Sectionals and was less than one second away from the cut for States.
Senior captain Adam Ho pulled off the first win of the meet for Wakefield/Lynnfield when he won the 200-yard Individual Medley.
After an exciting race and an extremely close finish, the 200-yard freestyle relay team, consisting of Wakefield’s Spencer Little, Henry Brown, Robert Brown and Evan Chan, beat Triton, qualified for Sectionals with a time of 1:37.69 and finished within a second of the States cut. The same four swimmers competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay and took another first place. The boys made Sectionals again in this race and were once again less than a second off the States cut.
According to Wakefield sophomore Henry Brown, “The team’s goal wasn’t just to win. We needed to make sectionals in our relays and we did just that. We went out there and got the times we needed and are all proud. It was all-around a great team meet.”
Additional notable swims for the Wakefield/Lynnfield team included Owen Kelley’s second place in the 100-yard backstroke, Chris Meadows’ second place in the 200-yard freestyle and a second place finish from Ashkrit Mahajan in the 500-yard freestyle, the longest event of the meet.
Regarding the relays’ qualification times, head coach Jeff Boyd commented, “To have all three relays qualify for Sectionals in one meet is pretty amazing. Getting those relays qualified was our top priority heading into this meet. To go 3-for-3, I mean you can’t ask for more than that.”
Coach Boyd used this early-season meet as an opportunity to allow for some of the younger swimmers to compete.
“They all really took advantage of the opportunity and we were satisfied with how things ended up,” said Boyd.
The team will rematch Triton on Jan. 29 and will be ready with all swimmers on deck for an intense, competitive meet.
The Warrior-Pioneers travel to Gordon College tonight at 8 p.m. for a matchup against Hamilton-Wenham.